THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS

wdlove · Mar 20, 2004

I listened to the author interviewed on NPR. Found his information fascinating. He made it easier to understand. On subject that he is working on is the "String Theory." He talked about the joy of working on math as a child. I thought of Mr. Anderson when I listened to him talked, knowing his interest in these subjects. So I thought that I would look it up and post it for him to discuss with us.

THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS
Space, Time and the Texture of Reality
By Brian Greene
Illustrated. 569 pages. Alfred A. Knopf. $28.95.

Suppose that you are in a stationary position, reading a newspaper that contains a review of a new book about mind-blowing physics. The author of that book, Brian Greene, would like you to ponder a few things:

1. You are not still. You only think you're still. You are accelerating.

2. Electromagnetic forces are holding your skin and bones together. (Whew.)

3. Time flows as you read. But need it flow forward? Might it flow backward, so that you unread each word and the words appear to you in reverse order?

4. Only 5 percent of the universe that you inhabit can be described as familiar matter. According to the author's formulation, 25 percent is dark matter. The remaining 70 percent may consist of dark energy, which remains at this moment a hypothetical concept. But the next generation of particle accelerators may be powerful enough to achieve empirical tests of this theory and many of the others postulated here. If at some future date physical evidence is found to corroborate the boldest of these speculations, trips to Stockholm may ensue.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E0DD123CF935A15751C0A9629C8B63

Sparky's · Mar 20, 2004

1. speculate on the fact that I am in the center where the Universe started and everything else is accelerating away from me (as can be proved from the "expansion theory")

2. what holds me together is a stiff drink when I get home from work, and the love of my wife. God only knows I too often come apart when dealing with coworkers and customers

3. if time can move in reverse then at some point it can stand still. that's where I want to be for a while.

4. i would think that the 70% would not necessarily be "dark" energy I mean the "Force" is with us, right? so maybe it's 35% dark and 35% light energy (pun intended)
See my signature, you can't reach into "in", your arms are too long.

I do miss Carl Sagan

MrMacMan · Mar 20, 2004

I'm still going with my theory that all of this talk about theories of space are utterly useless because no real good can come out of them.

Maybe MAYBE in 10,000 years we can look back and say because of ___ we can go to the other mutiverses because of his/her theory... but nothing today or nothing during the next 100 years.

I also belive that 99.99% of the universe is Something called "The Force" and the rest of the 0.01% is things we commonly see and feel.

KC9AIC · Mar 21, 2004

I think someone tore The Fabric of the Cosmos.

Or at least that's what thinking about it does to my brain.

WinterMute · Mar 21, 2004

Its all still a physical manifestation of my imagination, the whole shebang....

As far as I can tell, the universe began just after my 3rd birthday, and will end at the moment of my death.

All theories and evidence to the contrary have been devised by myself in order to have a good row with someone.

There is some evidence that there are a few others out there, and that reality is a consensual illusion devised by us.

Enjoy...

Veldek · Mar 21, 2004

MrMacman said:
I'm still going with my theory that all of this talk about theories of space are utterly useless because no real good can come out of them.

Maybe MAYBE in 10,000 years we can look back and say because of ___ we can go to the other mutiverses because of his/her theory... but nothing today or nothing during the next 100 years.

But maybe we only get to this point in 10,000 years because we start exploring now and each year we don't explore is one lost year and makes us wait for this moment one year longer. In this case, all the studies are not useless at all. Think about it.

Awimoway · Mar 21, 2004

Those physicists and string theorists say some pretty outrageous things these days. I was listening to one on NPR a few months ago, and he said that time travel is probably possible, but it would require the ability to harness the energy of our whole sun to pull it off. In other words, it will never happen. But it's interesting to know that it's at least theoretically possible.

wdlove · Mar 21, 2004

I found the interview to be fascinating. Another way to look out life. I don't like mathematics, but he made it understandable to listen to his theory.

A point a great disappointment, was that he had no room for God or a superior being.

Naimfan · Mar 21, 2004

I actually ordered both this book and The Elegant Universe after reading the review in the NY Times--they're both very good. I recommend them to anyone interested in both the state of science and to a lesser degree the philosophy of science.

Best,

Bob

MontgomeryBurns · Mar 21, 2004

Never Stop Taking LSD.

PlaceofDis · Mar 21, 2004

i always like to hear other people's theories because it can help me gain a better perspective about life and everything in general, plus its interesting to a degree

MacAztec · Mar 21, 2004

I believe in the string theory. I saw a whole series on it (there was a thread about the show, I forgot the name), and I was convinced.

They said the universe is like a loaf of bread. Each slice is a dimension. They believe there are 8 (might have been 9) dimensions. They also believe that gravity matter jumps through other dimensions, and they will prove this inside of a particle accelerator. They will have a picture of two particles colliding, and hopefully they will see the gravity entering the next dimension.

We will know someday...

neut · Mar 22, 2004

wdlove said:
A point a great disappointment, was that he had no room for God or a superior being.

that's why we create our own god(s). science has no need for god; it doesn't ask that question. we did. science/god may exist with or without each other.

we make life what it is... no matter what it really is.

MacAztec said:
We will know someday...

But we already do know. We're just sketching it all out first... reassuring ourselves of what we already know; like a painter who marks up a canvas in preparation of some unseen, yet not unforeseen, image.

WinterMute said:
Its all still a physical manifestation of my imagination, the whole shebang....

As far as I can tell, the universe began just after my 3rd birthday, and will end at the moment of my death.

All theories and evidence to the contrary have been devised by myself in order to have a good row with someone.

There is some evidence that there are a few others out there, and that reality is a consensual illusion devised by us.

Enjoy...

now there's a good answer. it was a good time had by all when this view was prevalent... bridging the gap; stretching absurdity, youth, and narcissism.

****

the string theory is leading us in the next hippie invasion of science. where art exists... so will we. we cannot progress without creative thought disillusionment of your self and surroundings will only retard our existence and deform our environment.

stretch with your mind and help us all grow.

peace.

crenz · Mar 23, 2004

wdlove said:
A point a great disappointment, was that he had no room for God or a superior being.

But he is admitting 95% of "nonfamiliar matter", isn't he?

It always amazes me when people try to explain God in terms of our system. I don't think we can. He made it, after all.

neut · Mar 23, 2004

crenz said:
It always amazes me when people try to explain God in terms of our system. I don't think we can. He made it, after all.

what amazes me is that people fail to see that they are god, we made this and are remembering each other as we go.

s-t-r-e-t-c-h your m-i-n-d

peace.

SiliconAddict · Mar 23, 2004

KC9AIC said:
I think someone tore The Fabric of the Cosmos.

Ya ya that was me. Sorry I had beans for dinner last night.

SiliconAddict · Mar 23, 2004

neut said:
what amazes me is that people fail to see that they are god, we made this and are remembering each other as we go.

And it amazes me the utter arrogance of the human race. We didn't make this universe. We didn't make the sun, moon, trees, the bird, the ocean, the land, the sky. None of these things were made by us and everything made by man in the end falls apart and is worthless all the while the stars remain, the oceans survive, the birds sing, and the mountains inspire.

Humans may be many a thing but god or even god like we are NOT.

neut · Mar 23, 2004

SiliconAddict said:
And it amazes me the utter arrogance of the human race. We didn't make this universe. We didn't make the sun, moon, trees, the bird, the ocean, the land, the sky. None of these things were made by us and everything made by man in the end falls apart and is worthless all the while the stars remain, the oceans survive, the birds sing, and the mountains inspire.

Humans may be many a thing but god or even god like we are NOT.

who said anything about humans?

we are more than we think we are... open your mind and become one with it all; it is you. how else could you exist?

throw away your chains and remove your skin; they are worthless and will cause you to die. i am the second coming of myself and am here to save myself yet again if only i would listen...

peace.

Les Kern · Mar 23, 2004

SiliconAddict said:
None of these things were made by us and everything made by man in the end falls apart and is worthless all the while the stars remain, the oceans survive, the birds sing, and the mountains inspire.

Humans may be many a thing but god or even god like we are NOT.

Stars burn out, oceans dry up, birds mostly die after a very short life, and the blind cannot see mountains. But I get your point.
God can exist regardless of theory. Even the Pope endorsed the Big Bang theory some years ago. But whereas for religeous fundamentalists there is indeed absolute truth, to me and less bleary-eyed folk it is simply hogwash. To a scientist 1+1 does indeed equal 2. Provable. Where the statement "God is watching over us" relies on faith alone.
These are two completely seperate questions, but they can most certainly co-exist.

MrMacMan · Mar 23, 2004

Veldek said:
But maybe we only get to this point in 10,000 years because we start exploring now and each year we don't explore is one lost year and makes us wait for this moment one year longer. In this case, all the studies are not useless at all. Think about it.

I would love for this to be the case, but first i want to solve stuff closer to home, like dieases.

Its my SETI vs. Folding theory all over again.

I hope we can go with out lightspeed drives soon also BTW.

SiliconAddict · Mar 25, 2004

MrMacman said:
I would love for this to be the case, but first i want to solve stuff closer to home, like dieases.

Its my SETI vs. Folding theory all over again.

I hope we can go with out lightspeed drives soon also BTW.

OK. I obviously didn't get enough sleep last night. For a second I saw lightspeed drive BMW.

Josh · Mar 25, 2004

Awimoway said:
Those physicists and string theorists say some pretty outrageous things these days. I was listening to one on NPR a few months ago, and he said that time travel is probably possible, but it would require the ability to harness the energy of our whole sun to pull it off. In other words, it will never happen. But it's interesting to know that it's at least theoretically possible.

To figure out if time travell is possible, and if we will ever do it, you do not need to worry yourself with theories, laws, equations, or one ounce of mathematics/physics.

All it takes is the realization of this: If time travell is possible, and if we will ever do it, we would already know. How? Because if it was possible, then someone from the future would have came back. If time travell gets invented in 2172, then time travellers from 2172 would come back to earlier times, and surely, when a time traveller comes back, it wouldnt go unnoticed. Even if it happened long ago, someone would have said something about it - it would be recorded in history.

Did the Bible mention time travellers? No. Did any other history book mention time travellers? No. Did yesterdays news mention time travellers? No. Surely if Time travelling was every possible, than one from the future would have came back somewhere between now and 2004 years ago, and it never happend. So time travel is either a)not possible at all b)possible, but we humans will never get to that point. And I agree with the latter, as I don't think humans will be around for too much longer (I'll give it 150 years, and thats being generous/optimistic).

But then again, that does make me think of John Tritor and all the debate going on with that. If he's real - then theres the proof I'm talking about. If not - well then you know the answer

neut · Mar 25, 2004

Josh said:
To figure out if time travell is possible, and if we will ever do it, you do not need to worry yourself with theories, laws, equations, or one ounce of mathematics/physics.

All it takes is the realization of this: If time travell is possible, and if we will ever do it, we would already know. How? Because if it was possible, then someone from the future would have came back.

your assuming we can see (sense) evrything around us... we can barely touch the full spectrum of reality. if time travel is possible i don't think you could interact with those things you come into contact with whilst traveling... you would too easily srew everything up (didn't you see Back to the Future???

).

peace.

stupid humans...

THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS

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